The farm houses close to 10,000 layers and produces around 85,000 eggs a day for institutional customers like hotels and restaurants. To streamline their process, they’ve started making their own egg trays. “The reason we do this is to supply our own requirements,” says owner Wilson Ang. “We also consider also our waste, which we convert into egg trays.”

The egg trays are manufactured in a warehouse separate from the main farm. Strict biosecurity measures are enforced to keep pests away and ensure that the trays stay clean. “We don’t let visitors in. We hired a third party to handle pest control,” he says.

They are made from recyclable material like newspaper, corrugated boxes, and old egg trays. Coincidentally, they get their old newspapers from our parent brand, Manila Bulletin. “They offered us a continuous supply and that’s when we decided we could produce egg trays,” he says.

A pulper is used to turn everything into a mushy, well, pulp.

A pulper is used to turn everything into mushy pulp.

The pulp is fed into a forming machine, which shapes it into egg trays.

The pulp is fed into a forming machine, which shapes it into egg trays.

The newly formed egg trays are left to dry in the sun.

The trays are left to dry in the sun.

The sun-dried egg trays are individually heat-pressed to help them keep their shape.

Once dry, they are individually heat pressed to help them keep their shape. Afterward, they are packed and brought to the farm’s Egg Room, where eggs are sorted and packed by size.

They produce 20,000 to 30,000 egg trays a week, just enough for their needs. “But if we see that there’s a demand, we might add more machines to supply others,” Ang says.

There were no numbers at the time of the interview, but Ang surmises that by making their own egg trays, they stood to save about P100,000 a month.

The already booming egg industry is still poised to grow even more, especially as the population surges. Aside from being a cheap source of protein and nutrients, eggs are also delicious. “I love to eat eggs. I eat them everyday,” Ang says.

Yvette Tan is Agriculture.com.ph’s Web Editor. She is an award-winning writer who likes to eat, travel, and listen to stories about the strange and supernatural. She is dedicated to encouraging people to push for sustainable food sources and is an advocate of food security, food sovereignty, and the preservation of community foodways. She has a cat and likes hamsters.